Charlie (Logan Lerman) is 15, smart beyond his years, and a loner. The youngest of three kids, and a very quiet high achiever at his new high school, he's hopeless at talking to girls and getting his peers to understand him. Until, he meets the free-spirited Sam (Emma Watson) and her gay stepbrother Patrick (Ezra Miller), both in the in-crowd, who take Charlie under their wing. They introduce him to high school football games, house parties (one of which sees him get high on a cannabis brownie), road trips and alternative culture. Meanwhile, his English teacher (Paul Rudd) fuels his ambition to become a writer. But despite Charlie's new social status, the coming-of-age road he must take remains rocky.
Stephen Chbosky's 1999 novel became a widespread cult hit, although I wasn't a fan as I have a longstanding dislike of epistolary novels. However, his film adaptation of it won me over immediately. This is very delicate material, dealing as it does quite explicitly with mental health, grief and homosexuality among other themes, but Chbosky hits every note right, with great tenderness, also realising the Christmas setting beautifully. His screenplay also feels very accurate of how teenagers interact.
Logan Lerman delivers a finely understated turn as Charlie, although I do find it rather ironic to see him playing a Catholic boy when he's actually Jewish. After a decade as the ultimate goody-two-shoes Hermione Granger, Emma Watson makes a real U-turn here as the defiant, dry-witted Sam and she's delightful as well, but stealing the show is undoubtedly Ezra Miller, by turns hilarious and gritty as the uber-daring Patrick. Also terrific are Joan Cusack as Charlie's psychiatrist and Johnny Simmons as Patrick's closeted footballer boyfriend Brad.
Throw in a brilliant soundtrack featuring David Bowie, the Smiths and the Rocky Horror Picture Show cast among others, some lush cinematography and fluid editing, and I think The Perks of Being a Wallflower are much more enjoyable - and resonant - on film than paper.
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